by ecri institute cynthia wallace, cphrm karen p. zimmer, md, mph, faap,

1

By ECRI Institute

Cynthia Wallace, CPHRMKaren P. Zimmer, MD, MPH, FAAP,

Anticipating Unintended Consequences of Health Information Technology and Health Information Exchange

ONC Webinar:How To Identify and AddressUnsafe Conditions Associated with Health IT

2

Learning Objectives

• Describe the role of health information technology (IT)in patient care.

• Identify events that can occur when health IT operates in unanticipated ways.

• Review the socio-technical model for evaluating health IT-related events.

• Describe high reliability and culture of safety principles to support event reporting of errors, near misses, and unsafe conditions with health IT systems.

• Identify tools and methodologies to assist healthcare organizations in developing reporting systems to capture health IT events.

• List the advantages for healthcare organizations to partner with EHR developers and PSOs in learning about and analyzing health IT events.

What is Heath IT?

• Health IT systems comprise the hardware and software that are used to electronically create, maintain, analyze, store, or receive information to help in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.

3

4

Examples of Health IT Systems

• Administrative –medical billing and scheduling management system

• Automated dispensing system

• Computerized medical devices

• Electronic health records (EHR) or EHR component

• Human interface device

• Laboratory information system

• Radiology/diagnosticimaging system

5

Health IT Can Enhance Care If…

Health IT can provide multiple benefits to enhance patient care if:

• the technology is optimally designed by the system developer;

• thoughtfully implemented by the health care organization; and

• appropriately used by the organization’s staff.

6

Benefits of Health IT

• Reduce medication errors

• Eliminate illegible writing

• Enable computerized provider order entry

• Achieve best practices using clinical decision support tools (CDS)

• Preventive care recommendations

• Track immunizations, testing, and referrals

• Centralize patientrecords (availability, timeliness)

• Allow access acrossa variety of settingsfor care coordination

Health IT Patient Safety Action Plan and Surveillance Plan (July 2, 2013)

Unintended Consequences

Health IT’s potential can be undermined by the hazardsthat arise when a health ITsystem operates in unintended and unanticipated ways.

7

Examples of Unintended Consequences

– An EHR system developer notified its customers that a software glitch in its emergency department module prevented ED physicians’ notes about medications from transferring into patients’ medical records.

– A patient’s blood transfusion was ordered and administered under her deceased spouse’s medical record. A nurse later noticed the patient’s DOB was incorrect on her account. Fortunately, the patient received the necessary correct blood type, but this error could have caused serious patient harm.

8

9

Health IT Safety:A Shared Responsibility

Health Care OrganizationsInternal reporting of incidents,near misses, unsafe conditions

Patient Safety OrganizationsAnalysis of aggregated data,

feedback, education

EHR DevelopersSafety alerts, software updates

Federal and State AuthoritiesGuidance from agencies of the

Department of Health and Human Services, as well as state licensing

authorities

Health IT Safety

10

Socio-Technical Modelfor Health IT

Adapted by permission from BMJ Publishing Group Limited. Sitting DF and Singh H. A new socio-technical model for studying health information technology in complex adaptive healthcare systems. Quality and Safety in Health Care. 19(Supplement 3): i68-74, October 2010; doi: 10.1136/qshc.2010.042085

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/qshc.2010.042085

11

The Eight Dimensionsof the Socio-Technical Model

Hardware and softwareClinical contentHuman-computer interfacePeopleWorkflow and communicationInternal organizational policies,procedures, environment, and culture External rules, regulations,and pressuresSystem measurement and monitoring



12

Common Health IT Issues

Human-computer • A patient was not identified properly, and

all clinical information was entered into the wrong record.

• Data were entered incorrectly into the electronic record due to multiple records being open.

• The system failed to alert the user of an identified concern with a flag or pop up.

• The user ignored or overrode an alert.

• Data were not entered into the system.

• Data were incomplete and missing from the entry.

Computer-related • Data were not displaying properly

in the system.

• The network was down or slow.

• Interface issues with the laboratory system caused delays in the ability to retrieve data.

• The software was not up to date.

• Software did not meet the needsof the specialty provider.

• The software was not functioning properly.

• Data were lost.

13

Top Five Health IT-related Events

1. System interface issues

2. Wrong input

3. Software issue –system configuration

4. Wrong record retrieved

5. Software issue –functionality

Case Studies: Computer-Related

System Interface• A physician ordered a

patient’s anticoagulation medication to be discontinued. The order did not cross over to the pharmacy system. The patient received 8 extra doses before the medicine was discontinued.

Software Configuration and Function• The system prevents the nurse

from typing more than five letters in the comment field.

• An influenza vaccine order does not drop off the active work list after it is given.

• An error message displays each time a particular medication is ordered.

• The system does not alert when a pregnancy test is ordered for a male patient.

14

Case Studies: Human-Computer Issues

Wrong Data Input• The nurse entered an

incorrect patient identification number and recorded the blood glucose results from the bedside glucose meter for the wrong patient. The correct patient was still treated appropriately because the blood glucose results were immediately available at the bedside.

Wrong Record Retrieved• The medication

management system allows the pharmacist to navigate off one patient profile and pull up another patient profile. An incorrect medication order was placed in the wrong patient’s profile. The patient receive incorrect medications as a result.

15

16

Identifying Health IT’sUnintended Consequences

Continuous Feedback Approach to Health IT System Safety

Identify risks

Analyze risks

Consider mitigation strategies

Implement best

approaches

Monitor effectivene

ss

17

High-Reliability Organizations’ Commitment to Health IT Safety

Leadership commitment to:

• Educating staff about health IT safety

• Advocating health IT safety as everyone’s responsibility

• Promoting open communication about health ITsafety concerns

• Empowering staff to identify, report, and reduce hazards and risks from health IT systems

• Allocating adequate resources to ensurehealth IT safety

• Establishing a blame-free environment forrobust reporting of any health IT-related problems(including errors and near misses) without fearof punishment or reprisal

18

Event Reporting Withina Culture of Safety

• Encourage reporting of errors, near misses,and unsafe conditions with a clearly defined response

• Educate staff by providing examples of health IT-related incidents

• Provide constructive feedback and fair-minded treatment to facilitate organizational learning

19

How To CollectHealth IT Event Data

• Reporting system should enable reporters to provide sufficient information, in a standardized format,to identify the health IT problems they encountered

• Standardized tools for event reporting– AHRQ Common Formats for Health IT events

– AHRQ Health IT Hazard Manager

20


Standardized tools:

• AHRQ Common Format for Health IT Event

21


Source: Walker JM, Hassol A, Bradshaw B, et al. Health IT Hazard Manager Beta-Test: Final Report [online]. AHRQ Publication No. 12-0058-EF. Rockville (MD):Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2012 May. http://healthit.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/docs/citation/HealthITHazardManagerFinalReport.pdf.

Standardized tools:• AHRQ Health IT Hazard Manager

http://healthit.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/docs/citation/HealthITHazardManagerFinalReport.pdf

22

Health IT Eventand Data Analysis

• Critical lab results were overlooked without a full interface between different health IT systems.

– Consider the following poorly designed health ITsystem interface that hindered the reporting ofcritical laboratory results to patients’ physiciansand eventually led to a fatal event

Case Study: Health IT Laboratory Event

23

Health IT Eventand Data Analysis


Case Study: Health IT Laboratory Event


24

Monitoringand Staff Feedback

• Staff Feedback– Analysis of event(s)

– Error-prevention strategies

• Monitoring – Organizations must monitor the effectiveness

of their event reporting programsto ensure staff know:• How to use the program

• That the program is capturing the data neededfor continuous improvement

25

Monitoringand Staff Feedback

• Other sources of information:– Discussion with users

– Helpdesk logs maintained by the IT Department

– Medical chart reviews

– Claims data

– Executive staff walk-arounds

26

Reporting Health IT Eventsto Patient Safety Organizations

• PSOs can receive, review, and analyze information about health IT-related patient safety events.

• PSOs enable confidential and protectedexpert review and analysis.

• PSOs aggregate and analyze large volumesof data for facilitated learning.

27

Reporting Health IT Eventsto Patient Safety Organizations

Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). Patient Safety Act: HHS is in the process of implementing the Act, so its effectiveness cannot yet be evaluated. GAO-10-281. Washington (DC): GAO; 2010 Jan. http://www.gao.gov/assets/310/300382.pdf.

Intended Flow of Patient Safety Event Data and Feedback

http://www.gao.gov/assets/310/300382.pdf

28

EHR Developers’ RoleIn Ensuring Patient Safety

• Support patient safety in their product design, development,and deployment.

• Share best practices with customers for safe deployment, implementation, maintenance, and use of their products.

• Participate with one or more PSOs for reporting, reviewing,and analyzing health IT-related patient safety events.

• Notify customers when they identify or become awareof software issues that could materially affect patient safetyand offer solutions.

• Recognize the value of their customers’ participation in discussions about patient safety and not contractually limit their customers from discussing patient safety issues in appropriate venues.

29

EHR Developers’ RoleIn Assuring Patient Safety

There are three ways in which EHR developers might work with providers and PSOs under the framework of the Patient Safety Act:

• Serving as a contractor to a PSO

• Serving as a contractor to a provider

• Creating a component organization to seek listingand serve as a PSO.

Teaming Up with PSOs

Purpose of the Partnership• To make healthcare safer by understanding

and mitigating health IT hazards and safety events

Objectives• Establish a collaborative model for collecting and analyzing

health IT hazards and safety events, and sharing best practices and lessons learned• Evaluate the use of two health IT reporting taxonomies • Understand the challenges of a safety reporting system for

health IT and prepare for a center for health IT safety

ECRI Institute PSO Pilot: Partnership for Promoting Health IT patient Safety

31

Conclusion

• Health IT is changing the landscape of health care.

• It is important to recognize the benefitsand the potential pitfalls of health IT.

• Reporting health IT events and near-misseswill facilitate learning.

• Improvements will occur when involving multiple stakeholders (providers, EHR developers, policymakers, human factor analysts).

Online Resources

Links to these resources are in ONC’s guide, How to Identify and Address Unsafe Conditions Associated with Health IT*

• AHRQ Common Format: Device or Medical/Surgical Supply,Including Health Information Technology (Health IT) Form

• AHRQ’s FAQs about PSOs

• EHR Contracts: Key Contract Terms for Users to Understand

• Electronic Health Record Association’s EHR DeveloperCode of Conduct Principles

• Health IT Hazard Manager Beta-Test: Final Report

• How to Identify and Address Unsafe Conditions Associated with Health IT

• Institute of Medicine’s report, Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care

• ONC’s Health Information Technology: Patient Safety Action& Surveillance Plan

32

*http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/how_to_identify_and_address_unsafe_conditions_associated_with_health_it_2013.pdf

33

References

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ):

– Device or medical/surgical supply, including health information technology (HIT) [online]. In: Hospital Common Formats—version 1.2: Event Descriptions, Sample Reports, and Forms. 2013 Apr 24. https://www.psoppc.org/web/patientsafety/version-1.2_documents.

– PSO FAQs [online]. http://www.pso.ahrq.gov/psos/fastfacts.htm.

• Ash JS, Berg M, Coiera E. Some unintended consequences of information technology in health care: the nature of patient care information system-related errors. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2004 Mar-Apr;11(2):104-12.

• ECRI Institute PSO. ECRI Institute PSO Deep Dive: Health Information Technology. Plymouth Meeting (PA):ECRI Institute PSO; 2012 Dec:1-41.

• Electronic Health Record Association (EHRA). EHR Developer Code of Conduct Principles [online]. 2013 Jun 11. http://www.himssehra.org/docs/EHR%20Developer%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20Final.pdf.

• Institute of Medicine (IOM). Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems For Better Care.Washington (DC): National Academies Press; 2011 Nov 8.

• Kaushal R, Shojania KG, Bates DW. Effects of computerized physician order entry and clinical decision support systems on medication safety: a systematic review. Arch Intern Med 2003 Jun 23;163(12):1409-16.

https://www.psoppc.org/web/patientsafety/version-1.2_documents

http://www.pso.ahrq.gov/psos/fastfacts.htm




http://www.himssehra.org/docs/EHR%20Developer%20Code%20of%20Conduct%20Final.pdf

34

References

• Koppel R, Metlay JP, Cohen A, et al. Role of computerized physician order entry systems in facilitating medication errors. JAMA 2005 Mar 9;293(10):1197-203.

• Magrabi F, Ong MS, Runciman W, et al. Using FDA reports to inform a classification for health information technology safety problems. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2012;19(1):45-53.

• Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Health Information Technology: Patient Safety Action & Surveillance Plan [online]. 2013 Jul 2. http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/safety_plan_master.pdf.

• Sittig DF, Singh H:

– A new socio-technical model for studying health information technology in complex adaptive healthcare systems. Qual Saf Health Care 2010 Oct;19(Suppl 3):i68-74.

– Defining health information technology-related errors. Arch Intern Med 2011 Jul 25;171(14):1281-4.

• Sparnon E, Marella WM. The role of the electronic health record in patient safety events. Pa Patient Saf Advis. 2012;9(4):113-21.

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Class 2 Recall: ED Pulsecheck [online]. 2013 Jul 29. http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfRes/res.cfm?ID=119832.

• Walker JM, Hassol A, Bradshaw B, et al. Health IT Hazard Manager Beta-Test: Final Report [online]. AHRQ Publication No. 12-0058-EF. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2012 May. http://healthit.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/docs/citation/HealthITHazardManagerFinalReport.pdf .

http://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/safety_plan_master.pdf

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfRes/res.cfm?ID=119832

http://healthit.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/docs/citation/HealthITHazardManagerFinalReport.pdf

35

Extra SlidesDetails on the Device/HITAHRQ Common Format Form

Appendix:Examples of Health IT Events for Reporting into Device/Health ITAHRQ Common Format

36

AHRQ Common Formats –Event Categories

• Medicationor other substance

• Perinatal • Pressure ulcer • Surgery or anesthesia• Other

• Blood or blood product • Device or Medical/Surgical

Supply, including Health Information Technology(Health IT)

• Fall • Healthcare-associated infection

Event-specific categories include:

37

AHRQ Common Formats –Contributing Factors

• Incompatibility between devices• Equipment/device function• Equipment/device maintenance• Hardware failure or problem• Failure of, or problem with, wired

or wireless network• Ergonomics, including human/device interface issue• Security, virus or other malware issue• Unexpected software design issue

38


• Incompatibility between devices• Equipment/device function• Equipment/device maintenance• Hardware failure or problem• Failure of, or problem with, wired or wireless

network• Ergonomics, including human/device interface issue• Security, virus or other malware issue• Unexpected software design issue

Example:Results from the Laboratory Information System did not interface to the results section of the electronic health record

39




• Loss or delay of data• System returns or stores data that does not match

patient• Image measurement/corruption issue• Image orientation incorrect• Incorrect test results• Incorrect software programming calculation• Incorrect or inappropriate alert

40




Example:When entering a dose in mg/kg/hr,the system inappropriately calculatedan incorrect IV rate of infusion

41




42




Example:When entering a dose in mg/kg/hr,the system inappropriately calculatedan incorrect IV rate of infusion

43




Example:I was working on a mobile workstation trying to complete my documentation, and I was unable to save it.

44




• Hardware location• Data entry or selection• Information display or interpretation• Alert fatigue/alarm fatigue

45




Example:I was attempting to select my patient and inadvertently selected the next patient on my list.

46




Example:My log-in was not working and I was unable to access the computer system to obtain information on my patient.

47




Example:Medication order placed via CPOE. When medication appeared on e-MAR, information related to the drug was omitted.

by ecri institute cynthia wallace, cphrm karen p. zimmer, md, mph, faap,

Documents